To avoid having to check this page every ten seconds for updates on supplements, music, and sundry little details, hit us up on Facebook and like the page. That'll keep you updated without getting spammed with a million twitter-length posts!

30 September 2010

Baddest Motherfuckers Ever #19- Pat Casey

Nowadays, it's not uncommon to see a lot of guys weighing in the 200s benching 600+ lbs, so you'd think that a guy like Pat Casey would fall by the wayside in a discussion on big benchers. That, however, is because most people wouldn't take into account the fact that triple-ply bench shirts can double your bench, and equipped guys often can barely handle half their opener in a warmup without their shirts or suits. Casey, however, was the first guy to ever bench 600, squat 800, or total 2000, and he did like a fucking beast in a tshirt and shorts. How'd he do it? Sheer badassedness, some sick genetics, schooling from the first guy to officially bench 400, and by never missing a scheduled workout. I'm not sure if you guys are seeing a pattern among these BME posts, but there's definitely a solid one at this point- consistency is the ultimate key. Through wind, through sleet, through rain or snow, bitch betta have my money, and I'm going to the mothafuckin gym.

My bitch better have my money/Through rain, sleet, or snow/My whore better have my money/Not half, not some, but all my cash/'Cause if she don't,/I'm gonna put my foot in her ass.

In re the second reason Casey was such a fucking beast- the Godzilla-strong cocksucker benched 420 at a bodyweight of about 215 when he was 17 years old. Hideously unfair, for sure, in the eyes on anyone who was, like me, pumped about a 285 bench when they were 17. Nor was this a big fucking deal for him- according to Bruce Wilhelm, "he did not have to check his bio-rhythm chart, or to be totally rested or to have his own equipment to do his best lifting on." Oh, and to add insult to injury, Casey competed only as a bodybuilder at the time, rather than a powerlifter.

That's not to say that Casey trained like a poofter- he trained in marathon sessions on a regular basis, doing 7-8 hour sessions of weighted dips. Once, at a bodyweight of 300, he did a single with 308 lbs hanging off him. Additionally, he'd occasionally bench with no spotter in a shed without electricity, by candlelight (and nearly killed himself doing so on at least 2 occasions). This wasn't uncommon for him, as Casey trained by himself, reading magazines to motivate himself, and then just busting his ass for endless hours doing the most ridiculous shit of which he could think, like a neck bridge pullover and press with 405 lbs. According to the man himself, "At a bodyweight of 300 and using a 250 pound dumbell I did 200 repetitions. I started with sets of 5, then 4, gradually descending all the way down to singles. I did this over a 7 hour period of time and I can readily attest to the fact that I was totally thrashed. I felt shot for the next two weeks. But for some reason at that time I felt that they helped. On several other occasions I did over a 100,000 pound workload dipping, working over a period of 8 hours."

Insane. Casey credited his massive benching power to his marathon dipping sessions, in addition to having done thousands of bench press lockouts in his homemade bench in the aforementioned shed. He mentioned that he got the guy from Marvin Eder, another bonafide badass who lifted insane poundages prior to the advent of lifting equipment or the prevalence of gear. Additionally, like Eder, his workouts were fucking beastly. Wilhelm lists the following as a typical week in the gym for Pat Casey:

Wide Grip Seated Presses: Warm up with 10 repetitions and then do 10 sets of 5 reps. Finish with one set of 20.

Cheating One Arm Lateral Raises: Perform 5 sets of 5 repetitions and finish with one set of 20.

Cheating One Arm Front Raises: 5 x 5, 1 x 20.

Dips: With body leaning forward. 8 x 5, 1 x 20.

Wednesday

Handstand Presses Against Wall: With hands on boxes. 10 sets of 5. If you cannot do a complete press-up from the position do a half press until your strength increases enough to do full movements. You can add weight by tying a plate around your waist.

Workouts like those detailed above made Casey insanely, frighteningly strong- we're talking super-chimp on steroids and HGH strong. So fucking strong, in fact, that Casey once picked up a bench and moved it across the floor, failing to realize at the time that it had been bolted directly into the fucking concrete. Thus, the next time you think you've fucking torn it up in the gym, remember- there's always someone who's taken it a step further, so it's time to take two fucking steps forward and lay down your fucking marker on history.

"Casey once picked up a bench and moved it across the floor, failing to realize at the time that it had been bolted directly into the fucking concrete." Haha, that makes me think of the ending to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, when the Indian rips that shower thing out of the ground, and smashes through the barred windows.

Also Jamie, how much time do you spend on all this writing? You put out a lot of stuff. I guess you have a day job, so you must spend all your free time in the gym, reading or writing.

Sorry to dissapoint, but he'd have had to stopped training before the early 40's to have missed the boat there. He'll have taken them like sweets, pretty much like all the York Barbell legends people often like to call "pre steroid era" haha!!!

Wrong-o, bud. Steroids were not available in the US until the early 60's. Dianabol was first synthesized in 1960 and York's lifters started taking it shortly thereafter according to Bill Starr. You can read all about it here: http://startingstrength.com/articles/ultimate_exercise_starr.pdf

So it's unlikely that Casey would have even had access to D-bol until towards the very end of his career. Fact is, though, he was just a genetic freak and it wouldn't have made that much difference for a guy like him.

Anony- while the Nazis did experiment with testosterone suspension for soldiers, the first official anabolic steroid (dianabol) was invented in 1954 I believe. Going purely off memory. Feel free to correct me if you have facts to the contrary.

Actually i was wrong saying steroids were in the US in the mid 40's. But it wasn't the 60's either. According to John D.Fair in the book 'Muscletown USA' (great book by the way),"By the summer of 1954 (John) Grimek was taking a variety of substances provided by Ziegler (Hoffmans doc)", and "He administered testosterone to Jim Park, Yas Kuzuhara and Grimek". So i'd say Pat Casey would have been 15 in 1954, when steroids were already getting used by the York lifters. So fucking suck it muthafucker.

Jamie, I want to apologize to you on behalf of humanity. I want you to know, from me to you, that there is at least one other person out there who is not completely fucking retarded, and although my strength achievements pale in comparison to yours much less to Pat Casey's, but at least I copy down these friggin' workouts and actually do them. When I first started lifting ~1 year ago, I went straight to Google and looked up Jon Pall Sigmarsson's routine, wrote it down on some printer paper and took it to the gym. Every lift has improved by hundreds of pounds, and I see no end in sight. I'm going to keep going until I'm a fucking bear, and after looking at the sheer horror and insanity of Pat Casey's workouts, you can bet your ass that by Wednesday of this coming week I'll be in the gym, dipping my ass off with a weight belt.

That's because unlike all of the gay dysgenic pieces of shit out there in the world who want to point out the real or imagined flaws in any figure greater than themselves to justify their own failure, I actually intend to be something someday.

I would say that crying steroids is a justification for personal laziness and shit genetics, but Jamie has stated that he has shit genetics and he doesn't let that hold him back, so I advise certain commenters to shut the fuck up and pick up some heavy things.

In Chrome, click the wrench icon on the browser toolbar. Mac users: If you don't see the wrench icon, go to the menu bar at the top of your screen and click Chrome. Options (Preferences on Mac and Linux; Settings on Chrome OS)> Under the Hood> Content settings in the "Privacy" section> select "Do not show any images."